British TV - bleugh

BBC 1 had nothing but the Commonwealth Games all day.

We paid a licence fee for that? I think I preferred Thailand where we didn't have a telly and managed to find our entertainment elsewhere (like YouTube). I thought it was a "good citizen" thing to do in getting that licence. We might have been better spending the money on a big monitor...

In the last 20+ years I've not been used to having a telly and the novelty of it intrigued me. I kinda wish I hadn't bothered. Really, what's the point?

BBC 2 wasn't bad and there was a quirky thing on Channel 4 that was mildly interesting. I could have lived without it. I thought it would be exciting to have TV and all the stuff we've been "deprived" of. Nah. I never missed it and I don't need it now.

Do you have TV in your home? Why? What do you like about it?

British Expat - helping people to live and work abroad since the year 2000.

Wow! I didn't know that. Hey, there's even a channel called "Dave". I demand one named after me too.

There was an interesting programme on last night (Channel 4, I think) about an inventor who is creating a floating home. Eccentric? Yeah, but it's worth a look if you get the chance. Also, there was Dragons' Den - I'm out!

We can't do anything fancy yet as we've not got a proper Internet connection - I'm using Dave's phone as a modem.

The Sunday paper cost GBP (can't find the pound sign) 2.70! Everything is so expensive! I remember when a bag of chips cost sixpence, it's more like seven quid now. The sooner I get my food blog fixed up the better and switch to blagetarian mode. Also, I've nearly run out of smokes but it's OK I have a pipe. For some reason people seem to find it gawk-worthy to see a woman smoking a pipe. Why shouldn't I? You don't need a willie to do it.

British Expat - helping people to live and work abroad since the year 2000.

The price of smokes is truly terrifying in UK. And the price of fuel makes it tricky to jump the channel on a booze cruise.

There are a few coach companies that run "shoppers trips", for £40-£60 they travel to Dover and go across on a late ferry, then go to Tobacco Road in Adinkerke, Belgium, arriving about 6am, where you can buy hand-rolling tobacco for about €70-€80 a kilo. Then they go to a booze warehouse in France, and back to the ferry.

Since tobacco is over £320 a kilo if you buy it from Tesco, even if you buy the customs recommended limit of 1kg per person (which very few people do) it can be a cheap option.

I know! When they're done, they're done and I'm not buying any ready-mades here. If I can't manage to give up I'll go back to my pipe (that's what I did the last time we were in UK) or rollies. I used to like aromatic Dutch shag tobacco. The smoke was almost as good as the name.

I was going to watch the telly now but I can't find it. I think Dave has hidden it in a box somewhere. Dunno why, we bought the licence before we bought the telly - it's GBP 1,000 if you get caught without one. This is a weird country - so many rules and regulations. Also, I believe it is against the law not to eat a roast dinner on Sundays, and it has to be roast bat, lamb, or beef. That's what I heard anyway.

BTW, we are now the proud owners of a table, two chairs, and a mattress. Things can only get better!

British Expat - helping people to live and work abroad since the year 2000.

It probably doesn't apply to TV in the UK, but I don't watch any "commercial" TV, I haven't had cable in over 20 years, nor do I watch any local channels. I do have Netflix ($7/month) for my kids and Amazon prime ($79/year) both with unlimited streaming. Between the two I can find just about any show I want. Amazon Prime just added all the HBO series into Prime. I'm coming off a week long Sopranos binge of the last 6 seasons. It also has all the good Discovery and History channel shows as well. I get all my news and weather off the internet. Who needs TV?

LOL. Well, we've managed fine without it for at least the last 10 years. I just thought it would be a novelty. Besides, we've nothing else to entertain us yet - and we only have one dodgy Internet connection between us.

I suppose I should get on with writing a book or something.

I find the TV adverts mildly interesting. It's a way of finding what the latest products are, I guess. Later, I expect we'll record programmes and fast forward through the ads.

British Expat - helping people to live and work abroad since the year 2000.

My wife and I are TV junkies we have a TiVo Roamio Pro that lets us record up to 6 channels simultaneously and something like 400 hours of HD quality at a time which equates to about 3000 hours of non-HD. In addition, we have Netflix, Hulu plus, and Amazon Prime to fill in any gaps. If she didn't have to work, I doubt my wife would ever leave the TV.

I could do without it if I needed, when I lived in France, I did just fine without a TV. I suppose I can understand what you might be experiencing having experienced two very different cultural approaches to TV. What we choose to "mindlessly" entertain ourselves with via TV seems to vary greatly from country to country.

I see what you mean about the different approaches to TV. I look at the listings for the day and carefully select a couple of programmes to watch. Then I watch them - and nothing else. No channel surfing. No watching something on impulse. And certainly no watching of something just because it's there.

British Expat - helping people to live and work abroad since the year 2000.